Should I ever poison an opossum?

If you have an opossum that is making a home in and around your home, then you know that these creatures can be a real nuisance. They make big messes and get into just about everything. They can make a real mess of your garage, attic, shed, or garbage cans. They just like to make messes that way.

In addition, these animals carry a large number of illnesses that can quite hazardous to yourself, your family and your pets. The last thing you want to is to be bitten or scratched by one of these animals and get something like distemper or rabies. Even their waste can be dangerous, which means that if they are on your property, you want to do all you can to rid yourself of them as quickly as possible.

That leaves a few different options on how to get rid of the opossum. You could try to scare it off, and there are some extremely good ways to do this. However, this is only a temporary solution and the animal could return. You could capture it and then try to move it to another location, but this can be a lot of work, and there are some risks involved in this for sure.

Then there is the final option – extermination. You could opt to kill the animal by either trapping or killing it, or by using means that kill the animal right off. If this is the selection you are opting for it is perfectly natural, but then that raises the question of what would be the best option to choose to do this.

Many decide that poison is the best option to kill off the opossum. It is quick and simple and seems to make a lot of sense, but if you are asking yourself if you should ever use poison to kill off the opossum, then the answer is no. Here is why.

Consider the way that you would use the poison. You have to get the animal to ingest it, and the best way to do that is to put it in some kind of food. The possum eats it, and then a few minutes later it is dead. Sounds like a great plan.

Of course, the opossum is not the only animal that may find that snack to be a tasty treat. Your dog may like it or someone else’s pet. You may have birds and other animals eating it. By the time all these other animals eat it you may have a trail of dead animal carcasses strewn across your backyard. That is why this is a terrible plan for sure. You really need to look at other alternatives.
Read more: Opossum Control, How to Get Rid of Opossums, Opossum Feces.